It's amazing really just how much we take for granted in America. It's not something we do on purpose, but every now and then a story about how some of the rest of the world lives peeks its ugly head and we get a little reminder. For these reminders, remember why we fight the battles we do and why we chose democracy. The path that has led us to where we are today is littered with the blood and bodies of the men women and in some cases children who believed so much in this that they gave their lives for their ideas. In many cases we fight other's wars in hope of giving them a taste of the freedoms we enjoy. It does not always seem like that is what we are doing and sometimes our motives are not always clearly defined, but even the mere chance of a better life sparks hope for millions of others. We complain about immigration and the influx of illegal immigrants coming into America. Can we understand why they want to be here? Obviously there is more opportunity here than where they currently live, or why would they fight against all odds to be here?
Over history, dictators and governments have tried to stifle many of the freedoms we enjoy. To this day, terrorist would rather kill us than allow us to enjoy many of the freedoms we have. The Chinese built the Great Wall of China to keep invaders out. The Soviet Union built the Berlin Wall to keep people in, and keep people out of the eastern block of Germany and captured territories. These are just some examples of the efforts of men to impose their will over others.
Today another huge great wall has been slowly erected to once again stifle human freedoms. In a very small way it affects every life on the planet. But for the people of the Republic of China it affects their lives every day. The ‘Great Firewall' as it is now known looms over the heads of every internet user in China. The Chinese government imposes this firewall to restrict their users from gaining access to many internet sites that we use and enjoy every day. "They have a very large system of internet filters and employ tens of thousands of humans to monitor and watch over the countries user's internet habits to sensor content from them." Many popular sites we enjoy are banned from viewing like Wikipedia, and Flickr. The government says that "the surveillance machinery, commonly known as the "Great Firewall," is necessary to let Internet users enjoy a "healthy" online environment and build a "harmonious" society."
Watch your step.
What a load of whooooie. . . .
Reuters. Blocked China Web users rage against Great Firewall. Wed Jun 20, 2007 2:59AM EDT. Reuters. http://www.reuters.com/article/inDepthNews/idUSPEK21813920070620?pageNumber=3&sp=true
I encourage everyone to read the full article.
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